Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
61 lines (43 loc) · 5.05 KB

update_web_content_in_app.md

File metadata and controls

61 lines (43 loc) · 5.05 KB
Raw
copyright lastupdated
years
2018, 2019
2018-12-21

{:shortdesc: .shortdesc} {:new_window: target="_blank"} {:note: .note} {:tip: .tip} {:pre: .pre} {:codeblock: .codeblock} {:screen: .screen}

Direct Update

{: #direct_update}

Web resources (JavaScript, HTML, CSS or image files) in Cordova or Ionic applications can be updated over-the-air (OTA) with Direct Update without the need for users having to go through the App Store or Play Store update. Using the Direct Update feature, businesses can ensure that the end users use the latest version of their apps. To update an application, the updated web resources of the application needs to be packaged and uploaded to your Mobile Foundation instance using the Mobile Foundation CLI or by deploying a generated archive file. Direct Update is then activated automatically. It is then enforced on every user request to a protected resource.

Diagram of how direct update works

Direct Update is supported in the Cordova iOS and Cordova Android platforms. {: note}

For the live production or pre-production testing phase, it is recommended to implement secure Direct Update before you publish your application to the app store. Secure Direct Update requires an RSA key pair that is extracted from a real CA signed server certificate.

  1. Take care that you do not modify the keystore configuration after the application is published. Updates downloaded cannot be authenticated before reconfiguring the application with a new public key and republishing the application. If you do not perform the two steps above, Direct Update would fail on the client.
  2. Direct Update updates only the application’s web resources. To update native resources a new application version must be submitted to the respective app store.
  3. When you use the Direct Update feature and the web resources checksum feature is enabled, a new checksum base is established with each Direct Update.
  4. If the Mobile Foundation server was upgraded, it continues to serve direct updates properly. However, if a recently built Direct Update archive (.zip file) is uploaded, it can halt updates to older clients. The reason is that the archive contains the version of the cordova-plugin-mfp plug-in. Before it serves that archive to a mobile client, the server compares the client version with the plug-in version. If both versions are close enough (meaning that the three most significant digits are identical), Direct Update occurs normally. Otherwise, Mobile Foundation server silently skips the update. One solution for the version mismatch is to download the cordova-plugin-mfp with the same version as the one in your original Cordova project and regenerate the Direct Update archive. {: tip}

After a Direct Update, the application no longer uses the pre-packaged web resources. Instead, it uses the downloaded web resources from the application’s sandbox. If the application’s cache on the device is cleared, the original packaged web resources are used again.

Direct Update of web resources applies only to a specific version of the app. For example, updates generated for an application version 2.0 will not be delivered to version 2.1 of the same app. {: note}

Creating and deploying updated web resources

{: #creating_deploying_updates}

After you've made changes to your web resources, you can package and upload them to your Mobile Foundation instance by using the Mobile Foundation CLI.

  1. Direct Update updates only to the application’s web resources. To update native resources a new application version must be submitted to the respective app store.

  2. Mobile Foundation service will halt direct update to clients if the native part of the app is significantly different from the one uploaded to the Mobile Foundation service. This can occur when the cordova-plugin-mfp is updated with a newer version of the plugin. Before it serves the archive to a mobile client, the server compares the client version with the plug-in version. If both the versions are close enough (meaning that the three most significant digits in the version identifier are identical), Direct Update occurs normally. Otherwise, Mobile Foundation server silently skips the update. One solution for the version mismatch is to download the cordova-plugin-mfp with the same version as the one in your original Cordova project and regenerate the Direct Update archive. {: tip}

  3. Open a command line window and navigate to the root of the Cordova project.

  4. Run the command:

mfpdev app webupdate

The mfpdev app webupdate command packages the updated web resources to a .zip file and uploads it to the default Mobile Foundation server running in the developer workstation. The packaged web resources can be found at the [cordova-project-root-folder]/mobilefirst/ folder.

For alternate steps to update web content in your app, see here.

Advanced Direct Update configuration

{: #advanced_direct_update_config}

For advanced topics on Direct Update configuration, see here.